Over a tasting in Australia last year, I contemplated our obsession with the world’s top twenty grapes over a sampling of lesser known Mediterranean varieties such as Arneis (a dry aromatic specialty of Piedmont sometimes known as Barolo Bianco) and Fiano (a spicy, honeyed wine from Campania) transplanted to the new world down under. Off the top of my head, I counted over 50 grape varieties planted back in South Africa - including new plantings of Grüner Veltliner, Marsanne, Pinot Grigio, Vermentino and Verdelho. Trivial viniferous pursuits. See how many you can count.
To look into the crystal ball of future varieties in the Cape, a good place to start is De Bos 47 Varietal Rosé, a wine made from all the varieties planted in the De Bos Kloonetuin (clone or vine garden) in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley above Walker Bay. Made by Bosman Family Vineyards of Lelienfontein, the largest single vine nursery in Africa, the assemblage of this wine - surely a contender in the Guinness Book of World Records - is made from 47 niche varieties ranging from Clairette Blanche, Durif and Pinot Blanc to trendy Grenache, Marsanne, Roussanne and Tannat.
Back in Cape Town I enjoyed a
recent tasting of native Italian varieties exported to South Africa by Fantinel, one of
the country’s leading exporters of prosecco. I was enthralled by the array of new aromas and flavours in
the glass of Ribolla Gialla (Jancis Robinson traces it to the ancient Robola of
Cephalonia), Friulano, Picolit, Refosco and Verduzzo Friulano. Many of these
grapes have a history stretching back thousands of years to antiquity. Marco
Fantinel, one of the family, commented, “We like to promote the indigenous
varieties of our home of Friuli. These are
wines with strong personality. Close your eyes and you can imagine the place
where it is made”. We tasted unusual flavours of chestnut honey, wild flowers
and Mediterranean herbs.
You can read more about the ampelography - the science of
vines - in Jancis Robinson’s marvellous Guide to Wine Grapes, an indispensable
pocketbook guide. I was reminded of the rich diversity of the world of wine
while helping to plant the first Vermentino vines in South Africa in mid-November. You
wouldn’t normally say Sardinia and the Voor Paardeberg in the same breath - but
there we were, transplanting rows of the signature white grape of Sardinia -
and Corsica, Sicily,
Liguria and Provence. Under the watchful eye of consultant
Augusto Fabbro, family, friends and wine writers helped Italian owners Attilio
Dalpiaz and Michela Sfilgoi to plant the first Vermentino in African soils among
their olive trees and vines.
Winemaker Michela Sfiligoi, explained, “We decided on a
clone from Sardinia after lots of deliberation with Augusto Fabbro, one of Italy’s
best-known viticulturists. Vermentino is a perfect match for our terroir which
is hot and windy and mostly clay soils with sandy areas from disintegrated
granite. The berries and bunches are large and the grapes are late ripening. It
produces aromatic white wines which can handle wood and give you a beautifully
powerful wine”. Johan Wiese of Voor Groenberg Nurseries who propagated the
rootstock, adds, “It’s good for South
Africa to bring in new varieties and broaden
our cultivar choices. We look forward to the results”.
Living up to the name of the farm (Ayama means “Someone to
lean on”) we all got stuck in. All present, including Giorgio Dalla Cia,
planted five vines apiece in a row proudly bearing our names - a privilege wine
writers have enjoyed over the years from planting vines at The Vineyard Hotel
to Zandvliet. While pressing down the fledgling vines with the aid of Pinky and
Tannie, I chatted to Augusto who told me, “Vermentino (literally meaning “green
mint”) is highly adaptive. It is known as the wine of the Tyrrhenian. It likes
poor sandy soil and a hot climate. South Africa represents an
interesting new terroir. The future of Vermentino is promising here”.
We tasted the exotic appeal of Vermentino from the Sella,
Mosca and superior Gallura appellations of Sardinia.
At one of the most evocative tastings I’ve attended, Fabbro painted a picture
of “the colours and the sounds of the places where Vermentino is born” - the blue
sea, intense sun (no shade in the vineyards), the red stone and soil, and the
strong, salty maritime wind. We explored the aromatic descriptors of Vermentino
- noticeably floral (wisteria), Mediterranean herbs of mint, fennel, sage, rosemary
and thyme, ripe fruits (apple, citrus and lemon), vegetables (green pepper and
tomato leaf), sweet (honey) and strong salty, savoury minerality.
A unique selling point is a useful drawcard in any cellar
door’s portfolio. A niche variety stands out on a shelf crowded by the usual
suspects from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc to Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Take the rarities
of Sylvaner from Overgaauw, Grenache Blanc at Bosman Vineyards, Hungarian
Hàrslevelü at Lemberg, “Granny Smith” Nouvelle at Boland Kelder, Nebbiolo at
Steenberg, Gamay Noir at Kleine Zalze, and now, Grüner Veltliner from
Diemersdal in Durbanville.
At a tasting of the first maiden vintages of Grüner Veltliner, Austria’s
most planted variety, father and son Tienie and winemaker Thys Louw spoke about
why these Sauvignon Blanc specialists went to all this trouble to cultivate the
first plantings of this variety in the Cape.
Thys comments, ““Because I like it! I see great potential for this grape
variety in the Diemersdal terroir. Grüner Veltliner has proven itself very
fashionable in international markets and there is a gap for it in South Africa.
It grows in Austria
where good Sauvignon Blanc grows - and has great longevity.” A glass of Austria’s
Weingut Brundlmayer GV 2002 ably proved the variety has staying power.
Will this unpronounceable mouthful of a grape hinder
consumer appeal? Not in the USA,
he retorts where this crisp, dry, peppery, spicy grape is simply called GruV
(“pronounced groovy”). The ten-year long project has grown from the first eight
rows to five thousand vines in a dryland vineyard. Ripening between Chardonnay
and Sauvignon Blanc, the groovy green grape, Austria’s signature variety
(one-third of its national vineyard) suits their harvesting calendar - and the
fourth vintage is expected to produce 30 000 bottles in 2015. Made in a cool-climate,
mineral-driven style which characterises Diemersdal’s signature Sauvignon
Blanc, it has aromas of green apple, herbs, nettles with ripe pear, lime and
kiwi fruit flavours - and a long leesy mouthfeel.
The last time I had tasted Grüner Veltliner was in the
heuriger (wine taverns) in the vineyards around Vienna, where the wine of the new harvest
made from this variety is typically sold young, fresh and very green. (I was
once like that too!) A long way away in Durbanville, we enjoyed authentic Austrian
specialties like geräucherte forelle mit sahnemeerrettich, Wiener schnitzel,
kartoffelsalat and preiselbeeren with this traditional food-friendly wine. I
left Diemersdal with the nostalgic zither theme of that classic movie The Third
Man (shot in post-war Vienna)
ringing in my ears- still played in the heuriger today. I left feeling as well-fed
as Harry Lime (Orson Welles).
Like that old homily, variety is the spice of life in the Cape. You never know what you’ll find when you go out to
the winelands today. Things are looking kinda groovy.